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Blog: Will industry 4.0 enlarge or reduce poverty as a social divide? What will the policy implications be?

The term change is a very hard thing to fully understand its essence and specifications. Change for me is indeed hard at first, it is messy in the middle, but it is indeed beautiful in the end. However, the term change can differ from meaning to meaning for every individual person. Many people embrace and accept change, whereby others fight it completely and like things the way they are. I think a reason why people resist change is because they mainly focus on what they should give up, instead they should rather focus on what they can gain. The way in which change can be illustrated can be seen through the different eras of industries.

Industry 4.0

According to Marr (2016) many years ago there were only steam machines that mechanized some of the work, whereby our ancestors had to endure hard labor force by doing things by hand without any technology to guide them. The second era of industry was the development of electricity, as well as the growth of mass production (Marr, 2016). The third era of industry, technology such as computers and cellphones arise as well as the beginning of automation whereby machines and robots began to replace human workers (Marr, 2016). Now in the modern society we enter industry 4.0, in which computers, cellphones and automation machines will come together in an entirely new way whereby robotics will be connected to computer systems that is operated through programmes with very little labor force for human operators (Marr, 2016).

Therefore, the question to ask is, what is industry 4.0 exactly? Geissbauer et al. (2016:1) states that the term industry 4.0 refers to the combination of several main inventions in digital technology, whereby these concepts are coming to maturity right now, to transform the energy and manufacturing sectors. According to Baur and Wee (2015:1) industry 4.0 can be seen as the next phase in the industrial area, that is driven by four aspects, which are: the astounding increase in data volumes, computer power, cloud computing, smartphones, the internet of things and connectivity, especially in the area of  wide-area networks; the appearance of business-intelligence abilities; new forms of human-machine interaction such as touch borders; and the development in transferring digital directions to the physical world, such as advanced robotics and 3-D printing.

Efficiently implementing and going forward with the plans of industry 4.0 can bring many success in terms of the new modern era for numerous countries. However, keeping in mind the concept of industry 4.0 and all its positive aspects of change, have you ever thought about the negative outcomes? The effect that industry 4.0 can have on the existing poverty in each country especially in Africa. Looking at the concept of poverty in South Africa, it is classified as a nation with deep history and since the apartheid in 1994, the country has been struggling to fight poverty and inequalities (English, 2016).

Poverty as a societal divide

South Africa is currently suffering from serious poverty and unemployment rates, whereby 25 to 30 percent of the workers is unemployed (English, 2016). South Africa describes poverty and categories them in three aspects which are: the nourishment poverty mark, the lower bound poverty line and the upper bound poverty mark (English, 2016). Nicolson (2015) states that the latest statistics have shown that 21.7% of South Africans live in life-threatening poverty conditions, whereby they are not able to pay for basic dietary requirements; 37% of people do not have enough cash to obtain both satisfactory food items and non-food items so they should sacrifice food to pay for things like transport, water, housing and electricity. Nicolson (2015) identifies that 53.8% of people can afford adequate nutrition and non-food items but fall under the broadest definition of poverty in South Africa. A concept and issues that is also important to keep in mind is the struggle in the dollar/rand which influences the extreme poverty line in South Africa greatly (Nicolson, 2015).

Public policy and implications

Public policy can be defined as a government-set objective that relates to the general health and welfare of the public, and that the necessary actions are taken to accomplish these objectives (Grimsley, 2016). However, there can be a wide range of policy implications that can occur. From my point of view, all is good and well if industry 4.0 are implemented further in the developing world. On the one hand, each day is another opportunity for new development and growth to make the world and the lives of people a better place to live in. As seen over the years, technology, medicine, and science keeps on improving constantly.

On the other hand, I don’t think people always consider those whom live in poverty, how this era of industry will further complicate and eradicate their lives. How this will affect their domestic lives, if they are already struggling. To which extent will they have to fight if the world becomes more modernize and these people cannot adapt. This can result in where the government have less and less people to adapt to this modern era, they are unable to provide the effective health and welfare that is needed, which can lead to policy implications and later result in a down status of the country. As Industry 4.0 takes hold around the world, wealthy nations probably have the most to gain, but it is clear that the poorer countries have the most least to gain. Therefore, from my point of view, industry 4.0 will reduce poverty as a societal divide.

Zanelle Biewenga

18 April 2017

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References

Baur, C. & Wee, D.  2015.  McKinsey and Company: manufacturing’s next act. http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/manufacturings-next-act Date of access: 24 March 2017.

English, J.  2016.  The borgen project: 6 Facts about poverty in South Africa. https://borgenproject.org/6-facts-about-poverty-in-south-africa/ Date of access: 23 March 2017.

Geissbauer, R., Vedso, J. & Schrauf, S.  2016.  A Strategist’s guide to industry 4.0. https://www.strategy-business.com/article/A-Strategists-Guide-to-Industry-4.0?gko=7c4cf Date of access: 23 March 2017.

Grimsley, S.  2016.  The public policy process: problem recognition, policy formation & policy implementation. http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-public-policy-process-problem-recognition-policy-formation-policy-implementation.html Date of access: 19 March 2017.

Marr, B.  2016.  What everyone must know about industry 4.0. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2016/06/20/what-everyone-must-know-about-industry-4-0/#76229215795f Date of access: 24 March 2017.

Nicolson, G.  2015.  South Africa: where 12 million people live in extreme poverty. Daily Maverick, 3 Feb. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-02-03-south-africa-where-12-million-live-in-extreme-poverty/#.WPJKH6L_ol1 Date of access: 22 March 2017.